Are we trying to make our industry truly diverse – or just look diverse?

The first day was all about meetings, meetings, meetings and finding my bearings. That night, one of my colleagues and I ended up, where else, but at the Carlton Terrace and bumped into some agency guy who offered to get us a drink… Rose? Rose? he said and I declined politely. He was persistent and almost looked offended that I said no. Soon, my colleagues clarified, “she doesn’t drink”. His response was…

“What is she doing here if she doesn’t drink?"

I remember going back to the apartment that night feeling pretty crap. Here I was in a beautiful part of the world, geared up to meet amazing clients and engross myself fully in all the festival had to offer, and very quickly I had a real low point. I thought, jeez have I got this all wrong? Am I not welcome? Am I going to stick out like a sore thumb? Soon I started to understand the different facets of being at Cannes and decided I was going to make my own path here and not succumb to the Cannes norm.

A few months before Cannes I attended Advertising Week Europe, where I listened to a panel of agency heads discussing diversity. There was a lot of “why is the industry all middle class white males?" and "why we not doing anything about it? and "get more women in the boardroom" etc... And the whole time I was itching to get a word in.

I wanted to ask: how does balancing more middle class white males with middle class white women make a workplace diverse? How does adding a few different races into the mix tick the diversity box? Are we trying to make our industry diverse or just look diverse?

I started to deliberate on why we are fixated on college degrees, new budding talent and experience, and who that might be to the detriment of. I appreciate these attributes are important, but where does all this leave everyone else in between?

Why overlook the potential in someone less fortunate who couldn’t make it into college or university? Who maybe isn’t so great in an interview? Let’s go a stage further and look at those who are homeless and struggling to even get a roof over their heads. Who’s to say these individuals do not possess the skills to help our organisation reach greater heights?

With Do It Day now in its second year, we at The Drum are once again undertaking an ambitious project. We’re making a stand and proving that marketing can in fact change the world. The heart of this project is people, different people from different backgrounds, with varied upbringings. Some less fortunate than others.

While we're trying to change the world, what if we each made a slight change interally. What if, as an industry, we could each run a programme to hire one homeless person a year – would that make our organisations more diverse? Probably yes. Would we be changing someone’s life and giving someone hope? Would we be adding a different perspective on our business? I think we would.

Skills can be built in the right role within a supportive organisation. What makes a company truly diverse is not limited to being male or female, or your sexual orientation, it is deeper than that. It’s personality, it’s upbringing and it’s cultural; it’s accepting difference.

In the 2015 film The Intern, Robert De Niro's character gets the opportunity to come out of retirement and join a startup tech business on a seniors intern programme. The movie demonstrates true diversity: all of a sudden you've acquired an individual with years of life experience under his belt. Sure, he’s not the most tech savvy, but he picks it up and adapts pretty quick. In addition to existing sales manager experience, he offers a sense of perspective and serenity in a business full of stressed out and highly strung individuals. Who in the industry offers anyone post-retirement the opportunity to work in their organisation? Can we? Would that be us changing the world for better whilst still prospering in business?

Although I believe I offer diversity by going against many norms in this industry – being a woman, Asian and fueling my networking efforts with sparkling water – I want this industry to shake things up, and not only be diverse, but be inclusive.

There is so much focus on women wanting to be higher up the career ladder, adopting senior roles, being in boardrooms and essentially having and owning it all. While this is true, we do want that, placing a man or woman in a boardroom only makes a room look diverse. To truly own and operate a diverse organisation you have to demonstrate inclusion and acceptance. I’m not saying this doesn’t exist, but I'm trying to highlight the lack of consistency across the industry. With diversity comes inclusion. That’s often the missing piece in fulfilling the ‘Diversity Agenda’.

My message to people in the industry, especially those new to it, is this: show pride in your identity, background and values. Your gender, race or sexuality do not make you diverse, those are assets you are born with. Have a real point of difference and don’t be scared to challenge the norm, that will be your real point of difference, that will be your diversity.

Tehmeena Latif is commercial team leader at The Drum